Metamorphoses 2008!

Metamorphoses 2008 is here and available at the Cerro Coso Book Nook and at all Cerro Coso campuses! The 2008 issue is available for $5 to the general public. Students, faculty, and staff are eligible to receive one free copy. See the online order form or visit the Book Nook in person for details. You can also Download Metmamorphoses 2008 in PDF format (6mb).

2009 Submissions Open:
Met is now accepting submissions for the 2009 edition. Submit your literary or art work today!

I have three poems published in the 2008 Metamorphoses: Walking the Tree Streets, The Button Factory and October.

When I picked up my issue of Metamorphoses and reread my poems in book-form, my first thought was: I should write like this more often!

There's a lot of great poetry, short stories and art in this year's Metamorphoses! If you like literature and art, you've got to pick up a copy of MET. You can get one online, it's just a click away.

Labels: Cerro Coso Community College, Literary, Literature, Matildakay, Metamorphoses, Poetry, writers, Writing

  posted by Matildakay at 2:28 PM 0 comments

Lauded for Her Light Verse
"A bit of trash now and then is good for the severest reader. It provides the necessary roughage in the literary diet."

~Phyllis McGinley, lauded for her light verse.

Labels: daily quote, diet, lauded, light verse, Literary, Phyllis McGinley, Reading, trash, wild women, wild words, Wild words from wild women

  posted by Matildakay at 1:03 PM 0 comments

Welsh Literary Light
"Men love women, women love children, children love hamsters--it's quite hopeless."

~Alice Thomas Ellis, Welsh literary light.

Labels: Alice Thomas Ellis, children, daily quote, hopeless, light, Literary, Love, men, Welsh, wild women, wild words, Wild words from wild women, women

  posted by Matildakay at 10:00 AM 0 comments

Great story about the Writers of the Nervous Breakdown blog community
N.L. of Noveltown and ABC23 wrote a great story about the writers of the Nervous Breakdown blog community. TheNervousBreakdown.com is one of my favorite literary blog sites because of the quality of the writing.



Check out N.L.'s article and mini-documentary on TheNervousBreakdown.com. Not only does Rich Ferguson do some great performance art, Brad Listi and Lenore Zion both make some incredible remarks. Brenda Knight adds some zest in the article when she talks about J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and the Beat Generation and how they would form blog communities if around today.

Check out the article, "Non-Striking Writers Form Attention-Getting Blog Site"

Here's an Excerpt:

Nick Belardes of ABC23 caught up with the brainchild of the site, LA Times best selling author of "Attention. Deficit. Disorder," Brad Listi, and some of the writers of thenervousbreakdown.com near downtown Los Angeles to find out just what the buzz was all about.

Listi, also a professor at Santa Monica College, said, "It's a site that features a multitude of great writers, literary writers from around the world." He added, "What separates us from a lot of other blog sites, or whatever you'd like to call it, is that we're featuring writing of a real literary quality, and it's a one-stop place where readers who are enthusiastic about quality writing can come on a daily basis and hear from all these great voices."

View Slideshow of Related Pics of Listi, Ferguson and Zion.



If you're looking for a blog site that has a good variety of great literary writers, TheNervousBreakdown.com is it!

Labels: Brad Listi, Lenore Zion, Literary, N.L. Belardes, Noveltown, Rich Ferguson, The Nervous Breakdown, TheNervousBreakdown.com, writers, Writing

  posted by Matildakay at 7:01 PM 0 comments

Yosemite Writers Conference: The writers New Year
In trying to sum up my experience at the Yosemite Writers Conference I thought I’d share a few of the memorable sentiments, phrases and writing advice that really resonated with me.

“Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth,” ~Pablo Picasso, “and that is fiction” ~Ginny Rorby

“Sheroes” (women heroes) ~Brenda Knight

“You can change what people think with your writing.” ~N.L. Belardes

“Social networking is a way to raise awareness.” ~N.L. Belardes

“Write from the heart, write what’s around you, write the truth of hidden history” ~Brenda Knight

“Make writing a practice, make it a priority” ~Kate Gale

“You want to aspire to write great work.” ~Kate Gale

“You have to make your book stand out.” ~Farrin Jacobs

“Write the novel you want to write.” ~Steve Yarborough

“Your voice is important. Use your voice to capture attention for yourself, use your voice as a community service.” ~N.L. Belardes

“It really was inspiring. Felt like the writer's New Year for me.” ~Genevieve Choate

“One of the things you achieve from a point of view character is VOICE.” ~Hallie Ephron

“Movies have ruined more fiction writers.” ~David Morrell

“The most important thing in a book should be tension.” ~Irene Webb

“Be a first rate version of yourself not a second rate version of someone else.” ~David Morrell

“Develop an identity for yourself as a writer.” ~David Morrell

“Never underestimate the emotion of jealousy.” ~Bonnie Hearn Hill

“You can have a literary voice and still tell a good story.” ~Bonnie Hearn Hill

“Writing well is the best revenge.” ~David Morrell

“Always remember the enthusiasm with which the idea struck you.” ~David Morrell

More on the 2007 Yosemite Writers Conference:

Yosemite Writers Conference: The Writers New Year
Is Book Publishing Dead? Yosemite Writers Conference provides food for hungry writers
Yosemite Writers Conference: A Conversation about Blogging
Rambo Creator Reinvents Captain America
Yosemite Writers Conference: Demystifying Chick lit and Women’s fiction
Yosemite Writers Conference: Poetry talk
Mystery talk after David Morrell's big speech
2007 Yosemite Writers Conference: Brenda Knight Sidesteps the TVA man
Yosemite Writers and the Chukchansi bathroom break
Headed to Yosemite Writers Conference to talk writing for social change

Labels: Brenda Knight, David Morrell, Literary, N.L. Belardes, Steve Yarborough, Writing, writing advice, Yosemite Writer's Conference

  posted by Matildakay at 11:05 PM 1 comments

Yosemite Writers Conference: Demystifying Chick lit and Women’s fiction
I remember the reactions I received last year during the 2006 Yosemite Writers Conference when I said "women's fiction" was the genre my writing fell into. Some people assumed I wrote chick lit and responded as if it wasn't a real genre.

Why such a reaction? What’s wrong with women’s fiction? Nothing. I was simply a minority in a sea of mystery and thriller writers.

So I was excited to learn that at this year’s conference Farrin Jacobs, co-author of See Jane Write: A Girl’s Guide to Writing Chick lit, which I bought at last year’s conference, and a former chick lit editor was conducting a workshop called “Chick lit is dead and other myths about women’s fiction.”





Is chick lit dead? According to Jacobs chick lit is not dead, however, because of its popularity and market saturation it’s harder to get chick lit published now than a few years ago.

In a heavily saturated market, how do you get your chick lit novel or women’s fiction novel published? Quite simply, you have to make your novel stand out. Jacobs stated, “you have to have perfectly imperfect main characters that are identifiable to every woman; you have to get your chick lit voice down and write the novel you want to write, and you have to know your audience.”

The thing that chick lit or women’s fiction does very well is deal with tough issues in a humorous, human way. A perfect example is Jennifer Weiner’s debut novel, Good in Bed, where she wrote:

“Loving a Larger Woman,” said the headline, “By Bruce Guberman.” Bruce Guberman had been my boyfriend for just over three years, until we’d decided to take a break three months ago. And the Larger Woman, I could only assume, was me.”

Weiner, who is now a household name in the world of chick lit, cleverly propels her character and the reader on a journey of self-esteem issues and self-discovery that is poignant, endearing and quite funny.

And let’s not forget Helen Fielding, the queen of chick lit who created the character of Bridget Jones and gave her to the world through her novels Bridget Jones' Diary and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. For Bridget Jones lurks in every woman everywhere no matter how hard we try to hide her.

Chick lit as we know it today stems from or is modernized Jane Austin. Jane Austin is the real first lady of chick lit or women’s fiction. She helped create a genre for women when it wasn’t fashionable to be a woman author.

What I love about chick lit or women’s fiction is that it deals with the tough issues, the emotional issues, and while the writing can be very literary, it’s also smart and humorous, like women.

Jacobs covered the basics of writing chick lit and women’s fiction in her workshop discussing the importance of character development, character arc, pacing, plot, tense, point of view, the art of having a storytelling device, and the ending. “Chick lit wants either a happy ending or the promise of a happy ending,” Jacobs stated, “however, if your work is more literary your ending may be more ambiguous.”



The chick lit label does come with somewhat of a stigma. I think it has to do with all the pink book covers and references to shoes. Which is great for marketing, but for some reason the term chick lit sends a message that its not serious fiction. Whereas the term women’s fiction seems to have more depth. In a recent interview with Lara Tupper, author of A Thousand and One Nights, I asked her thoughts about chick lit and the chick lit label.

Here’s what Tupper had to say:

“I think the chick-lit label is problematic because it implies that a book is meant to be read by a certain demographic. And I find the term itself a little confusing-- not at all subversive (as in “we are chicks, hear us roar”). It’s become synonymous with ‘light’ subject matter and I’m not sure why that is. Because it’s written by women about women? A book such as Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity (a book I adore) is also a novel about pop songs and relationships. It’s narrated from a male point of view and yet it’s certainly not a book meant only for men. So I think the label chick lit points to a misconception or a double standard based on gender: Women write books for women while men write books for all.

That said, I think there’s nothing wrong with ‘light’—and I think it’s entirely possible for novels to be both ‘entertaining’ and substantive. In A Thousand and One Nights, I try to use pop lyrics in service of humor and to place the reader quite firmly in the mid to late 1990’s. But I also try to say something about disillusionment.”

I agree with Tupper that the label chick lit can have some negative connotations. It’s almost like saying men read real books and women read the pink fluffy books called chick lit. However, some chick lit can be just as compelling as the 'real' books. I’ve laughed and cried my way through chick lit just as I have more literary works.

As a reader and writer of chick lit and women’s fiction, I was pleased to have the genre represented at the conference and presented so well by Farrin Jacobs. I learned a lot more about chick lit and women’s fiction, why I love it and why I want to write it.

More on the 2007 Yosemite Writers Conference:

Yosemite Writers Conference: Demystifying Chick lit and Women’s fiction
Yosemite Writers Conference: Poetry talk
Mystery talk after David Morrell's big speech
2007 Yosemite Writers Conference: Brenda Knight Sidesteps the TVA man
Yosemite Writers and the Chukchansi bathroom break
Headed to Yosemite Writers Conference to talk writing for social change

Labels: Bridget Jones' Diary, chick lit, Farrin Jacobs, Fiction, Good in Bed, Jennifer Weiner, Lara Tupper, Literary, Noveltown, women's fiction, Yosemite Writers Conference

  posted by Matildakay at 7:37 PM 1 comments

Are you doing your Summer Reading?
Remember when you were a kid and your teachers would send a recommended summer reading list home with you at the end of the school year hoping you would do more than just play video games, like improve your mind. How many of you were good boys and girls and actually read a few books on the recommended summer reading list? How much did your summer reading influence your life as a child? As an adult? Is reading a passion in your life?

I don’t know about you, but I’m always reading. I have a stack of books at home that are in my “to be read” pile, but I continue to buy more books. I can’t help myself. My logic is I’ll eventually read them all.

Noveltown is not only passionate about writers, we’re passionate about readers too! Without readers the Indie literary presses and the publishing world would come to a screeching halt and eventually cease to exist. Books would become coasters, or those things you press flowers in, or worse! I don’t even want to imagine a world without books, its too horrible a thought. For in books our imaginations run free within world’s writers create for us. J. K. Rowling is the most successful author ever because of readers!

It’s mid summer and Noveltown just wanted to check in on you to make sure you’re doing your summer reading…

For all of you Paperback Writer readers who are book sluts, word whores, always carry a book with you in your purse or backpack, read while laying out by the pool, on the beach or by a lake, and plan what books you’re taking with you on vacation we’ve got some fabulous recommended summer reading for you.

(Read the full blog on Paperback Writer for great summer reading recommendations from Salon.com and Noveltown)

Labels: Bakersfield, J.K. Rowling, Literary, memoirs, novels, Noveltown, Reading

  posted by Matildakay at 9:45 AM 0 comments

Memoir discussions...
I discovered interesting discussions on the memoir this week and shared the ins and outs of the memoir with everyone at Noveltown.

Here's a little bit about the memoir:

Recently, I finished reading Alice Sebold’s memoir: Lucky, a courageous tale of her brutal rape as a college freshman and the transformation in her life that followed. Typically I read more novels than I do memoirs. I don’t know that I would ever have picked up a memoir about a violent rape if Alice Sebold hadn’t been the author. It’s not that I can’t handle reading about rape or violence, but perhaps it’s the trueness of the subject and the personal connection to the author that changes the reality of the words. In a memoir the author shares a little piece of their soul with you in the telling of their story.

However, I find Sebold’s writing so compelling, so open and enchanting, I couldn’t help myself. She took a horrific story of rape and turned it into a story about her life I could not stop reading. The affect of a brutal rape on a person’s life was never more revealing to me than when Sebold stated: “After telling the hard facts to anyone, from lover to friend, I have changed in their eyes.”

After having just devoured Sebold’s memoir, I was ecstatic to find a great discussion on memoirs this week over on the Pub Rants blog from literary agent Kristin who participated in a panel at the Backspace Conference entitled: How to Publish a Memoir if You Aren’t Famous. She wrote several blogs discussing memoirs, which turned out to be the most popular genre at the Backspace Conference. She also brought up some great points that I just had to share with all of you writers contemplating writing a memoir.

Kristin writes:

“Lots of people want to write a memoir and it’s also the hardest project to get published by a non-celebrity. And here’s my little rant, very few people actually have stories that are big enough to capture national attention and hence, editor attention.”

What does that mean for those of you writing memoirs? It means that whether you have experienced divorce, or was a child of divorced parents, had abandonment issues, have mental health issues, suffered heartbreak, lived a wild life of sex, drugs and rock and roll, was in the military and went to war, graduated top of your class in college, had cancer, failed in business, lost a child or spouse, was violently attacked, or any other thing that you’ve experienced in your life, millions of other people have experienced them too.

So what sets your story apart from the millions of other similar stories? What makes your story worthy of garnering attention, of being published?

“People need to have a persuasive reason to read your story. Were you famous or associated with someone famous? If not, you have to find a way to tell your story that is so involving and compelling and unique that it grabs the reader from the very first sentence and never lets them go until the end.”

There's a lot more tips about the memoir. Read the full blog and join in the discussion on Paperback Writer.

Labels: Bakersfield, books, Literary, memoir, Noveltown, Paperback Writer, Writing

  posted by Matildakay at 3:48 PM 0 comments

Lost and found in words…
Aspiring writers are always told they must read if they want to be good writers. I’ve read that advice in many articles, heard it at writing conferences, and I can’t tell you how many times N.L. has given me that same advice. “Read, read and read some more.” Its true. The more you read great writers, the more you learn about writing styles, plot and character development, good sentence structure and literary themes. And so now when I read I’m not just devouring the story for escapism or entertainment, I also pay attention to the writing.

Lately I’ve been reverting back to a favorite pastime, losing myself in books. I’m always reading, but I go through phases where I’m devouring words in massive volumes. At one point in my life I was drowning in words, reading up to five and six books a week. I would dive in and escape the real world of divorce in the stories I found within the pages. Eventually life settled down to a normal pace and so did my reading.

Something magical always happens to me when I’m reading. I get lost and found in the words. I can lose myself in the story and escape the mundane routine, the unrequited issues, and the emotional ups and downs. I open my imagination and become part of the story living through the characters. I take a fictional walk and get lost in the writing. But something else happens too. I find myself in the words. I find myself laughing or crying through the words. I find myself saying: “I know exactly what you mean or feel,” “I’ve been there,” “I’ve said that!” and “Oh my God, how did they know.” Screen writer/director Nancy Meyers must have a window into my soul for she seems to write my life almost word for word and I have the uncomfortable pleasure of watching beautiful actresses play out my life on the big screen. The bitch. If she doesn’t quit writing me, there won’t be anything left for me to write. But this magic is the moment when the writing is good and I get lost and found in the words the most. When the words transcend the page and touch my life and I carry them around with me like a secret.

In the large stack of books I’m currently reading, here are a few worth mentioning.

A Thousand and One Nights by Lara Tupper: As an active reader of chick-lit, I was given this book to read for Noveltown. Although after reading it, I hesitate to stereotype it as chick-lit. It doesn’t follow the typical chick-lit formula. What it is, is an original, well written adventure of a lounge singer set in exotic locations. I was touched most by the humor within the sadness of the story as the characters isolated by their foreign locations, must depend most upon the person they are growing apart from. I’ll be writing more about A Thousand and One Nights and interviewing Lara Tupper for the Noveltown blog.

The Marriage Diaries by Rebecca Campbell: I picked this book up expecting it to be a light, fun chick-lit read. It was a fun, witty read that had me laughing at times. But it had depth like most marriages do. The writing is brutally honest and dissects the marriage from two points of view, the wife and the husband’s. What would you do if you stumbled onto your husband’s private journal on the home computer hard drive and found out he was contemplating an affair? Campbell smartly takes the characters in a much different direction than I had expected.

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold: Last year at the Yosemite Writers conference a panel of agents all agreed they were looking for the next “Lovely Bones” and that books like that were rare. The Lovely Bones. I wrote the name down in my notes and promised myself I’d read it. I finally read The Lovely Bones and now I know why the agents were all raving, it’s stunning. A literary masterpiece. I literally could not put the book down. Sebold weaves a riveting tale of the human experience uniquely told from the perspective of the murder victim as she watches her family, friends and her killer. From unspeakable tragedy and suspense Sebold gives hope and humor.

She writes:

“These were the lovely bones that had grown around my absence: the connections – sometimes tenuous, sometimes made at great cost, but often magnificent – that happened after I was gone. And I began to see things in a way that let me hold the world without me in it. The events that my death wrought were merely the bones of a body that would become whole at some unpredictable time in the future. The price of what I came to see as this miraculous body had been my life.”

The Lovely Bones is my new favorite book and a must read. If you read nothing else this year, read The Lovely Bones.

I have more books to dive into and get lost and found in the words…

Labels: found, Literary, lost, Noveltown, Reading, words, Writing

  posted by Matildakay at 11:45 PM 9 comments